Where It All Began...

Looking back at our upbringing, we feel so blessed to have grown up where we did and to have experienced everything that the Lord allowed us to be a part of.

As some of you probably know, we grew up as Missionary Kids (MKs). For us, life looked pretty different than most kids our age. We lived in Papua Indonesia, out in the middle of some of the remotest jungles in the world, serving among an unreached people group known as the Wano. My parents gave the best years of their lives learning the language and culture of the tribe in order to translate the Bible into the Wano language and proclaim the Good News to them for the first time. Growing up, this was our world, and although to many it seemed pretty wild, to us it was home!

This backdrop was where we developed our sense of adventure and love for discovery. The untamed jungles were our stomping grounds, and we never knew what new adventure was waiting around the next bend of the rugged, rainforest trail. We were also homeschooled growing up, and our parents made for amazing teachers. This meant that after we got done with our schoolwork (and chores), we could spend the rest of the day outside. As kids, we picked up the language pretty fast, and quickly befriended our Wano buddies, who were our guides to the jungle.

Some of our favorite activities outside were throwing spears and darts, shooting bows and arrows, playing tribal games with our Wano friends, and collecting insects. This last activity was what really got us hooked on discovery. At an early age our Dad instilled in us a love for creation, and collecting beautiful, sometimes undiscovered insects to science, only enhanced that. The older we got, the deeper into the jungle we went, tracking down cryptic creatures and exploring places where no westerners had ever been.